The 20 Best Quotes of 2016

20) “Many white people figure that they have gotten the message that they shouldn’t stereotype, that black people have a lousy history, that a lot of people aren’t free of racist bias. But white people feel like they aren’t bad people, and are sick of being told that they are, no matter what they do. The idea that they are bearers of a “white privilege’ for which they must endlessly apologize, no matter what they do or think, likely rankles especially. They feel damned if they do, damned if they don’t.” — John McWhorter

19) “In 1988 the national debt of the United States stood at $2.6 Trillion, today it is over $19.0 Trillion– an increase of 635% (and projected to reach $29.0 Trillion by 2026). On the other hand the debt of all the nations on earth has grown by only 135% since 1988.” — Steve McCann

18) “Islam has a problem with terror committed in its name that no other major religion shares at the moment. Period. End of story.” — Michael Graham

17) “If the national GOP is a vehicle for ensuring that John Boehner, Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan have a car and driver and a Gulf emir-sized retinue, then it’s very effective. If it’s a vehicle for advancing conservative principles, then it’s a rusted-up lemon on cinder blocks.” — Mark Steyn

16) “If you don’t understand the issues, but want to do your patriotic duty, then stay home on election night, whether in the primaries or in the national election in November. Uninformed voters turn elections into a game of playing Russian roulette with the future of America.” — Thomas Sowell

15) “We expect more of our leaders, not less. Because if nothing is expected of our leaders, they will lead us astray in the name of the principles we supposedly believe.” — Ben Shapiro

14) “If the Germans don’t think defending Germany is worth German money and lives, why is it worth American money and lives?” — Kurt Schlichter

13) “We all say we want accountability, but what we really mean is we want everyone else to be accountable. Very few people will actually hold themselves accountable for anything. Our Republic crumbles while we all sit around pretending we’re victims of a culture we’re actively creating and politicians we actively vote into office. We put torches to our own home and wonder why it’s on fire. And then, surveying the destruction we wrought upon ourselves, we weep like damsels in distress, crying out for a white knight to save us. Inevitably, a charlatan in a suit of armor comes along and promises to do just that. We faint and fall into his arms, and he proceeds to immediately betray us. Then we weep again for another white knight to save us from the last one, and another comes along, and he betrays us, and we weep again, and another one comes, and so on and so on and so on and so on unto infinity.” — Matt Walsh

12) “Republican America is now so vast that a traveler could drive 3,600 miles across the continent, from Key West, Fla., to the Canadian border crossing at Porthill, Idaho, without ever leaving a state under total GOP control.” — Reid J. Epstein and Janet Hook

11) “Our universities are now the most hostile place in the country to actual thought.” — Ace

10 “You know what a gun-free zone is to a sicko? That’s bait.” — Donald Trump

9) “The utter contempt with which privileged Eastern liberals such as myself discuss red-state, gun-country, working-class America as ridiculous and morons and rubes is largely responsible for the upswell of rage and contempt and desire to pull down the temple that we’re seeing now.

I’ve spent a lot of time in gun-country, God-fearing America. There are a hell of a lot of nice people out there, who are doing what everyone else in this world is trying to do: the best they can to get by, and take care of themselves and the people they love.” – Anthony Bourdain

8) “Go out and do the work. Oscars so white! So what? Do your work. Let your legacy speak and stop complaining, man. Are we really in this for the awards? If I had thought that way – that the world was against me – I wouldn’t be here now,” he said. “These whiny people that think we’re owed something are incomprehensible and reprehensible to me. I don’t expect acknowledgment or acceptance from white America. I’m going to be me.” –Lee Daniels

7) “Disagreement often turns into dehumanization. Too often, we judge other groups by their worst examples and judge ourselves by our best intentions.”– George W. Bush

5) “When politeness and orderliness are met with contempt and betrayal, do not be surprised if the response is something less polite, and less orderly.” — Glenn Reynolds

4) “Whenever a politician says he searched his conscience, you can assume it was a very quick search of a very small space.” —Charles Krauthammer

3) “If you don’t read the newspaper, you’re uninformed. If you do read it, you’re misinformed…In our society, now it’s just first — who cares, get it out there. We don’t care who it hurts. We don’t care who we destroy. We don’t care if it’s true.” — Denzel Washington

2) “You don’t know a tree is hollow until you push hard against it and it falls. The establishments of both parties did not know, a year ago, that they were hollow trees. They thought themselves strong because they always had been, and people think what has been true will continue. Then suddenly the tree is pushed and falls. To me that is the symbol, the image of 2016: the hollowed trees and how easily they fell.” — Peggy Noonan

1) “The press takes him literally, but not seriously; his supporters take him seriously but not literally.” — Salena Zeno on Donald Trump